A former assisted living facility on Main Street in New Ipswich is proposed to become a long-term recovery home for those with alcohol or drug addiction.
During a Zoning Board meeting Thursday night, board members met for the second time with Andrew Moser and Jonathan Gerson, who hope to found and operate Ebby’s Retreat in the former Friendship Manor, which closed earlier this year.
Gerson explained that the home would consist of a total of 26 residents — four on-site leaders, including a supervisor, and 22 men going through a high-intensity, long-term recovery program for addiction. The men who come to the retreat would have already been through an intensive program for detoxification, so the home would not be a medically monitored facility, but would provide supports for people in the next stage of recovery for up to six months to a year.
In addition to the residents and live-in leaders, the home would also have two staff members on duty at all times.
Gerson said there are no plans to do a structural remodel of the building, but he does anticipate work such as replacing carpets and flooring and repainting.
ZBA Chair Wendy Juchnevics-Freeman asked for more details about how the center would run from day to day.
Gerson said the type of program they intend to run would be highly structured. The men who live in the home would have a “minute-to-minute” schedule, which would include chores, meditation or prayer, writing or reading exercises and group activities. The schedule would also include off-site trips for shopping, addiction recovery support meetings or therapy and trips to a gym for exercise, as well as recreational trips. The men could work through the program to eventually earn privileges such as returning to a work environment in later stages.
Gerson said extended programs such as Ebby’s Retreat improve addiction recovery rates, and had helped him in his own addiction recovery.
“I went in and out of 30- and 60-day programs. I thank God I had an extended program like this,” Gerson said. “The extended model is crucial.”
Gerson said the center intended to go through a certification process with the New Hampshire Coalition of Recovery Residences (NHCORR), which is not a state requirement, but would provide attendees with additional funding options.
NHCORR Executive Director Kim Bock said when a person leaves a short-term treatment program, he or she often returns to the same patterns, and often those patterns lead to a relapse. Bock told the board that chances of long-term recovery increase by 60 percent when someone enters a recovery residence after acute treatment.
“That’s huge,” Bock said. “New Hampshire doesn’t provide for that system in many places.”
Moser added that the perception of places such as Ebby’s Retreat is that they are a “group of addicts,” when in reality it’s “a group of people in recovery.” And crucially, he said they would be admitting people “that want to be in this level of recovery.”
No abutters who attended the meeting spoke against the proposal, and several praised the concept.
The board asked for additional details on a parking plan, as well as a plan that included the location of the current septic system and its capabilities and a plan for a new septic system if the current one failed or needed to be replaced. The board continued the hearing on the proposal until Oct. 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the town office.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.